NWR - School vent

grumbledore

Can anyone explain to me how the following makes sense:

At my daughter's school, students in 4th and 5th grade are allowed to walk to and from school alone with permission from their parents.

At this same school, if my daughter is going to arrive 20 minutes early and go to AM daycare before class, I have to physically walk into the building and sign her in.  Apparently this is important enough that the fucking principal just called me, at work, to tell me I need to do this (because I have been dropping her off right outside to walk in to the building - same as we did at her old [same city, same system] school).  

I could understand having to sign a kid out in the evening, but signing her in?  How is she any less capable of walking into the building by herself at 8:05 than she is at 8:20?

First world problems, I know, but seriously I am going to have to wake her up 20 minutes earlier in the morning in order to go to the school, park a block away, walk in with her, sign her in, and then walk back to my car.  It's stupid and I am mad.  

grumbledore

This same school also doesn't check who is picking kids up at the end of the day, they just let the kids run out to whoever.

grumbledore

TwoDimes said:

grumbledore said:

This same school also doesn't check who is picking kids up at the end of the day, they just let the kids run out to whoever.

This is scary. 

Right?  I mean, by and large kids are able to see "Oh, that's my mom" and they are fine, but there was just a story on the news about a kid who got picked up at school by some stranger who looked like a family friend.  Luckily that kid was fine, but wtf.

I just can't wrap my head around this.

grumbledore

The teachers do stand with the kids at the door and wait for them to say "Oh, the person who picks me up is over there" but this would in no way prevent something like what I mentioned upthread from happening.

mysticl

It's because she is now under the responsibility of the before school program. I assuming you pay for this service.  This way they can track who is there and who they should be billing.  They can't just have random kids come in and try to join the program because they are early to school.  

OnceUponAVine

I'd be having a chat with the principal regarding the lack of adult oversight during the after school pick ups- that could easily turn into an unfortunate horror story. I would also ask if why it's acceptable for kids to walk themselves into school at 8:20 but not at 8:05.

But to answer your original question that makes absolutely no sense. Double check your student handbook/daycare contract and see if it's in there as a rule, otherwise I would just keep dropping her off.

*edited for formatting*

HisGirlFriday13

That makes zero sense to me, whatsoever. And the part about letting the kids go willy-nilly is terrifying.

grumbledore

mysticl said: It's because she is now under the responsibility of the before school program. I assuming you pay for this service.  This way they can track who is there and who they should be billing.  They can't just have random kids come in and try to join the program because they are early to school.   Right, but they already have my permission for her to attend and  to bill me.  So not relevant.

afox007

Have you tried talking to them about the fact that they have your permission and can bill you and see if there is a way around having to sign her in? Or since you mentioned that kids are allowed to walk to school could you just tell them she walks and therefore you aren't there to sign her in.

The way schools deal with pick ups and drop offs is insane. Last year FSS walked from his school to the park next to it because he had baseball half an hour after school. He planned to do his homework then go to the game. One of the teachers saw him and even though the park was't school property dragged him to the office and called me freaking out that he was "abandoned and unattended" and that school had been out for 20 minutes. I had to bring in a note signed by me and FI saying that he was in fact allowed to go to the park on baseball days. 

mysticl

grumbledore said:

mysticl said:

It's because she is now under the responsibility of the before school program. I assuming you pay for this service.  This way they can track who is there and who they should be billing.  They can't just have random kids come in and try to join the program because they are early to school.  

Right, but they already have my permission for her to attend and  to bill me.  So not relevant.

Signing her in denotes when their responsibility begins.  Prior to her being singed in you are responsible for her.  Once you sign her in they are responsible for her. For example say she decided to wander the halls instead of participating in the program. If you signed her in then it's their fault for not providing proper supervision but if you never signed her in then she she may never have even entered the room for them to know she was present and so it is her/your fault for her being in an unauthorized area.  

 I used to work in a before/after school program.  

Edited to attempt to fix the weird quote box issue that is going on here.  

tcnoble

grumbledore said:

TwoDimes said:

grumbledore said:

This same school also doesn't check who is picking kids up at the end of the day, they just let the kids run out to whoever.

This is scary. 

Right?  I mean, by and large kids are able to see "Oh, that's my mom" and they are fine, but there was just a story on the news about a kid who got picked up at school by some stranger who looked like a family friend.  Luckily that kid was fine, but wtf.

I just can't wrap my head around this.

I'm a teacher, and we had an incident happen where a student was released to their pick-up.. but by released I mean said "there's my mom!" and ran off, and was approached by a sketchy character at the back gates of the school. So we are now required to physically lay eyes on the person designated to pick up - if we can't see them and identify them, kids can't leave. If someone's "cousin" walks up to get the kid I can't let them go because I have never seen that person on our grounds for pick up before.

You would be shocked at how many parents HATE this policy, that they can't just wait in their car on the street (where their student can see) and the kid run out to them. I was surprised the policy wasn't embraced more, but it is what it is.

We have a similar policy with before school programs too... parents can't just drop their kids off at the front and have them walk in, they have to be physically walked in. So @mysticl likely has a valid point with the liability and release of responsibility to school.

SapphireCounselor

grumbledore said:

The teachers do stand with the kids at the door and wait for them to say "Oh, the person who picks me up is over there" but this would in no way prevent something like what I mentioned upthread from happening.

I totally agree that this wouldn't prevent a threat, Grumbledore. Just because the kid knows the person doesn't mean something bad can't happen. In fact from what I've read most abductions are perpetrated by someone the child knows. When I was a kid my mom had this password system that worked well. If anyone besides our parents came to pick us from school (unless she already told us in advance this person was supposed to pick us up) we had to make them say a special password that only we knew - even if it was someone we already knew. We only had to ask someone for the password once in all our school years when my mom had an emergency and had a family friend pick us up unexpectedly, but I'm sure it helped ease her mind as a parent.

VulgarGirl

SapphireCounselor said:

grumbledore said:

The teachers do stand with the kids at the door and wait for them to say "Oh, the person who picks me up is over there" but this would in no way prevent something like what I mentioned upthread from happening.

I totally agree that this wouldn't prevent a threat, Grumbledore. Just because the kid knows the person doesn't mean something bad can't happen. In fact from what I've read most abductions are perpetrated by someone the child knows. When I was a kid my mom had this password system that worked well. If anyone besides our parents came to pick us from school (unless she already told us in advance this person was supposed to pick us up) we had to make them say a special password that only we knew - even if it was someone we already knew. We only had to ask someone for the password once in all our school years when my mom had an emergency and had a family friend pick us up unexpectedly, but I'm sure it helped ease her mind as a parent.

My parents did the same thing! In fact if my say my mom picked me up instead of my dad, she'd tell me the password too. Which I think was just to drill into my head to ask for the password more then anything.

grumbledore

I love that idea @SapphireCounselor! We've been considering letting her start walking from halfway so we may just implement that. I understand the possible issues, I just don't think it's reasonable. There's one entrance door they have to enter through, and inside that door is the person in charge of the AM program. Frankly I think it's nuts that I even have to pay for daycare every morning for a kid who is 10-15 minutes early. Back in my day, we called that being punctual and milled around outside the door until we were let in.

SapphireCounselor

MagicInk said:

SapphireCounselor said:

grumbledore said:

The teachers do stand with the kids at the door and wait for them to say "Oh, the person who picks me up is over there" but this would in no way prevent something like what I mentioned upthread from happening.

I totally agree that this wouldn't prevent a threat, Grumbledore. Just because the kid knows the person doesn't mean something bad can't happen. In fact from what I've read most abductions are perpetrated by someone the child knows. When I was a kid my mom had this password system that worked well. If anyone besides our parents came to pick us from school (unless she already told us in advance this person was supposed to pick us up) we had to make them say a special password that only we knew - even if it was someone we already knew. We only had to ask someone for the password once in all our school years when my mom had an emergency and had a family friend pick us up unexpectedly, but I'm sure it helped ease her mind as a parent.

My parents did the same thing! In fact if my say my mom picked me up instead of my dad, she'd tell me the password too. Which I think was just to drill into my head to ask for the password more then anything.

My mom made the password two silly/nonsense words that made us laugh so she knew we would never forget them. I still remember them today. She never made us say it when Dad picked us up, but every once in a while she would randomly ask us what the password was just to keep us on our toes.

SapphireCounselor

grumbledore said:

I love that idea @SapphireCounselor! We've been considering letting her start walking from halfway so we may just implement that. I understand the possible issues, I just don't think it's reasonable. There's one entrance door they have to enter through, and inside that door is the person in charge of the AM program. Frankly I think it's nuts that I even have to pay for daycare every morning for a kid who is 10-15 minutes early. Back in my day, we called that being punctual and milled around outside the door until we were let in.

I agree Grumbledore. I would regularly get there 10-15 minutes before school started to hang out with my friends or talk to teachers I bonded with. By fourth and fifth and grade kids should be fine to mill around for a few minutes, provided there are yard duties or some adult around to break up sticky situations if something should happen.

SapphireCounselor

MagicInk said:

SapphireCounselor said:

grumbledore said:

The teachers do stand with the kids at the door and wait for them to say "Oh, the person who picks me up is over there" but this would in no way prevent something like what I mentioned upthread from happening.

I totally agree that this wouldn't prevent a threat, Grumbledore. Just because the kid knows the person doesn't mean something bad can't happen. In fact from what I've read most abductions are perpetrated by someone the child knows. When I was a kid my mom had this password system that worked well. If anyone besides our parents came to pick us from school (unless she already told us in advance this person was supposed to pick us up) we had to make them say a special password that only we knew - even if it was someone we already knew. We only had to ask someone for the password once in all our school years when my mom had an emergency and had a family friend pick us up unexpectedly, but I'm sure it helped ease her mind as a parent.

My parents did the same thing! In fact if my say my mom picked me up instead of my dad, she'd tell me the password too. Which I think was just to drill into my head to ask for the password more then anything.

On a completely unrelated note, I love your signature pic!